The Nation Newspaper

Tag: leadership

  • Leadership by process

    A business is usually assessed by the quality of its products. By the word “product”, I mean goods, services, software, etc. Businesses are sometimes called by the names of their major products. When a product fails, the producer loses credibility; on the other hand, a single successful product can reward years of unrecognised efforts. Even celebrities are eager to endorse successful brands while advertising agencies seek to manage their accounts. It gets better when a product has endured for decades or has transcended generations. That product becomes something akin to a cultural or social identity.

    Companies organise huge events for product launches but have you ever heard of a process launch? People pay for products not for processes. After all, when a product is available, the process is assumed. Also, processes are hidden but products are visible. Consequently, several businesses and individuals have adopted the philosophy of not celebrating processes but the products. In their opinion, you don’t commend the process but the result. They believe that if you have no positive result, your efforts are useless. But is this true? Thomas Edison said this about his invention of the long-lasting, practical electric bulb, “Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward…”

    A process emerges through a period of evaluating several methods of doing something and adopting the successful one. Hence, process itself is a product. Rather than trying to avoid failure, speed up the elimination of poor methods and the discovery of productive ones. The beauty of a good process is that it evolves with time. As the drivers of the process remain committed to constant improvement to enhance efficiency, better traditions are established. The same procedure that establishes the tradition is the same procedure that reviews and improves it, less some people become too obsessed with a certain tradition to allow change when it is necessary.

    Danger is imminent when we drive results at the expense of processes. We may get a “result” without a proper process but we can never get quality and sustainable results without quality processes. Again, Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” People are more inclined to see the genius but not the perspiration. People tend to celebrate the genius and forget that the brain did not use itself- there was a process. If you win once, it may be a coincidence. If you win twice, it may be luck. But when you win consistently, it has become a habit and the product of a reliable process. Choosing result over process is like choosing chicken over egg; without a great process, you will never have a great result. Do you want to achieve exceptional results? Adopt exceptional processes.

    Thanks for reading my article today. I would really love to hear from you. So, do share your views with me by sending SMS to 07034737394, visiting www.olanreamodu.com and following me on twitter @lanreamodu.Remember, you are currently nothing compared to what you can become. Don’t lock your potential in; let them breathe!

     

  • Leadership and the future of Nigeria

    Continued from yesterday

    Let me now speak about leadership and the future of our country, Nigeria. The core of my submission is that the present state of affairs in our country represents not only a clear case of national dysfunction, but also a bleak future with no assurance of the country’s continued existence as one political entity if the proposal that I shall proffer later in this presentation is not actively pursued in one form or the other by our Governments and peoples.

    There are facts about our country that I believe are incontestable to any objective observer. The first and overaching fact is that the very substantial revenue that Nigeria has earned from its crude oil exports over the years has had little or no impact on the lives and welfare of the vast majority of the population.

    In education Nigeria, in addition to having over ten million children out of school,  has retrogressed to having only one University (UI) ranked 601st among the top 800 world Universities and 14th in Africa, ie lower than Universities in Ghana and Uganda; in agriculture, it has retrogressed from being the world’s largest producer of palm produce and second largest producer of cocoa to being an importer of palm oil and minor producer of cocoa; it has retrogressed from having efficient railway transportation from Lagos through the North West to the South East regions of the country to having haphazard rail lines that are now being sporadically rehabilitated and built;  it has retrogressed from having first-rate hospitals such as the University Teaching Hospital in Ibadan which at one time attracted medical tourism from Saudi Arabia to now having such poor medical facilities that Government officials and the citizens who can afford it are compelled to seek medical treatment abroad; and perhaps most worryingly, Nigeria has retrogressed from being a country where people lived with their property in relative safety to being a country where insurgents, kidnappers and lately marauding Fulani herdsmen are killing men, women and children in significant numbers on a daily basis.

    In sum, our country Nigeria is currently drifting with decreasing respect for the sanctity of human life and as a result, has become number thirteen in the Wikipedia list of the world’s fragile states.

    In singling out absence of good leadership as one of the factors that have led to this unhappy state of affairs, I would like to quote one of  the country’s literary icons, the late Professor Chinua Achebe who wrote that:

    The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”.

    But I must however hasten to say that we have had some flashes of relative good leadership in Nigeria, particularly in the immediate post-independence years during  the First Republic. In the First Republic, we had the focused and service-oriented leadership of Sir Ahmadu Bello that saw such achievement as the groundnut pyramids and vast plantations of cotton in the Northern region; of Chief Obafemi Awolowo that brought to the Western region free and universal education and the introduction of the first television service in sub-sahara Africa; and the good leadership of Dr. Michael Okpara that achieved the world-scale production of palm produce and the burgeoning industrialization of the Eastern region.

    Nigeria’s political and economic progress began its retrogression with the military intervention in the country’s governance in January 1966. For thirty-three years thereafter until May 1999, minus the relatively short period of the second republic (October 1979 to December 1983), the successive military regimes became responsible  for dismantling the foundations of the country’s political stability and economic progress.

    First, they dismantled the country’s true federal structure which had been carefully negotiated and agreed as the basis for stability and progress by the nation’s founding fathers, and in its place introduced series of constitutional arrangements that reflected the army command structure, thereby transforming the central government to the equivalent of the supreme military commander whose orders must be obeyed by all rank and file, in this case the federating units.

    Second, they replaced the negotiated and democratic process of creating new federating units, as was done when the new Mid-West region was created in August 1963, with arbitrary creation of federating units by military fiat.

    Thirdly, they imported and sustained the culture of impunity which is a natural concomitant of rule by force. As has been amply demonstrated, impunity not only vitiates the rule of law, it also facilitates corruption.

    I must however add that the retardation of Nigeria’s progress cannot be blamed solely on the military. The civillians, some of whom have been involved in encouraging and supporting the various coups, and many of whom as politicians whose brand of politics has promoted corruption and divisiveness in the polity, have their fair share of responsibility for the current very worrying state of affairs in Nigeria.

    Our country is currently beset by among others, the following worries: a totally enervating atmosphere of moral and ethical decadence; a debilitating rancorous politics that is partly exacerbated by lopsided federal appointments; increased divisiveness and lack of cohesion as the country slides deeper into ethno-religious and sectarian divisions; a limping weak mono-crop-economy in which values are hardly added;  loss of the country’s influence and standing abroad; and a growing insecurity of life and property with sickening daily reports of killings of human beings.

    The question therefore is: how can we arrest this current drift towards a failed state and build the Nigeria of our dreams?

    I want here to reiterate the view that I have been expressing since my return to Nigeria in 2000 namely, that based on the experience of other similarly pluralistic countries across the world, Nigeria will not achieve enduring political stability or realize its deserved development potential with its present non-conducive “federal” constitution.

    I believe that restructuring Nigeria’s present governance architecture by returning to the provisions of its 1960 and 1963 constitutional arrangements will not only help the emergence of a leadership that will pave the way for a national rebirth, but will also put the country on a more assured path to political stability and faster socio- economic development.

    Taking into account the historical and current developments, including especially the continuing outrageous killings in the North Central zone of the country, I am proposing a restructuring of Nigeria into a true federation of eight (8) federating units comprising the existing six geo-political zones plus a restored old Mid-West region and a newly created Middle Belt federating unit. The present mostly non-viable 36 states many of which can no longer pay the salaries of their workers, should be retained in the new federating units but as development zones to be administered without their current costly executive and administrative institutions. It would be for each federating unit to decide if and when to create within it additional development zone(s) in response to any genuine cry of marginalization.

    In addition to considerably reducing the overall cost of recurrent expenditure which at present amounts to about 80% of the national revenue, I believe that the new bigger and more viable federating units, with their regional police forces can better monitor and enforce the security of the citizens; with fiscal federalism can better plan and pursue at their own pace and on a more sustainable basis their economic, education and health facilities development; and also can more effectively check corruption and hold their administrations to greater accountability.

    Such restructured governance architecture will facilitate overall national economic productivity and bring about the necessary shift away from the present virtually unitary structure which encourages the  36 states and federal capital territory (Abuja) to rely on a philosophy of “sharing the national cake”, and it will encourage the more viable federating units to focus on productivity and internally generated revenues.

    Besides, I believe that the restructured federalism will rekindle among the citizenry a sense of nationalism and the spirit of unity in diversity. The more viable and fewer federating units will also discourage the “do or die” politics which in the competition for the all-powerful centre exacerbates the divisive tendencies within the country; and the centre  because of its reduced responsibilities and the consequent significantly reduced “national cake” to share will become less attractive to our power hungry politicians.

    It was the true federal governance arrangement which during the First Republic  guaranteed such a balance of power between the centre and the regions that led Sir Ahmadu Bello to prefer remaining Premier of Northern region and sending his lieutenant, Sir Tafawa Balewa, to the centre as Prime Minister. Like his counterparts in the Eastern and Western regions, Dr. Michael Okpara and Chief Obafemi Awolowo respectively, the troika, later joined by Chief Denis Osadebey in the Mid-West region, gave meaningful leadership in their various regions and this cumulatively enabled Nigeria to have veritable influence and standing in the international arena during that period.

    A restructured Nigeria would make it easier to do away with a political class that is mainly driven by self-centred concerns, and encourage the emergence of a class of leaders that are capable of inspiring and forming affinity with the people – leaders who, like our First Republic regional leaders, would be capable of delivering their electoral promises and meeting the needs of the people as well as articulating a vision of how to continue to sustainably meet those needs.

    I would like to conclude by saying that while leadership is a critical factor in the life of Nigeria and indeed of every other nation, good leadership thrives best in a conducive political and governance structure. An example of a major national disaster was what happened to the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia because of a flawed governance structure. For failing to adopt a constitution that catered for the divisive tendencies that existed in the country, Yugoslavia disintegrated into seven independent countries after the death of Josip Broz Tito who by all national and international reckoning had been a charismatic and committed leader.

    I therefore call on our Governments and lawmakers to heed the growing warning signs of potential national disaster by agreeing to adopt a restructured true federalism which I believe will provide the best basis for the realization of the Nigerian nation that we all desire, a stable, united and socio-economically fast developing country with a correspondingly accountable and citizen-empathetic leadership.

    Finally, now that national elections are approaching in 2019, I would like to end by urging all intending voters to regard a firm unambiguous and time-specific commitment to the restructuring of Nigeria’s present governance architecture, as the pre-requisite for voting for any political party and its candidates.

    I thank you all for your attention.

    Being the tenth memorial anniversary lecture of Sen.Abraham A. Adesanya, Lagos, May 2, 2018. 

  • Over 2000 youths to converge at 2018 RECALP summit

    … RECALP to intellectually spur attendees to action on various fields of life

     

    The Young Adults and Youth Affairs of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province 19 has announced date for fourth edition of the Relationship, Entrepreneur, Career, Leadership, Politics (RECALP) Summit.

    The Summit, which is scheduled to hold on May 29, 2018 at the Redeemed Christian Church of God Lagos Province 19 Auditorium in Ogudu, will serve as platform to equip the new generation of leaders and stimulate attendees, mostly young people to align with plausible steps to attain their life goals.

    The Chief Host, Pastor Bisi Olowoyo, who is Pastor-in-charge of Lagos Province 19, said that over 2,000 young people are expected to be in attendance, while a lot of viewers are expected to join the Summit online.

    Olowoyo described RECALP as a carefully designed platform to stir-up the creativity, talents and skills in the young people.

    Speaking on the Summit, the Convener and Provincial Youth Pastor of Lagos Province 19, Femi Aminu said that RECALP has evolved over the past couple of years from merely a youth summit where young people network to a brand that sows and nurtures ideas of true leadership in the minds of young leaders.

    “The initiative is to provide a forum where young people can be intellectually stimulated and challenged to take charge in the focus areas of the Summit,” Aminu further said.

    RECALP holds every May 29 to coincide with Nigeria’s Democracy Day celebration.

    Also commenting on the Summit, Pastor Akin Akinboboye, Pastor of the Berean Youth Church, disclosed that Rev. (Mrs.) Funke Felix-Adejumo, President of Agape Christian Ministries, Dr. Charles Apoki, Founder of Petra Ministries and international conference speaker in several denominations and Mr. Adebola Williams, the co-founder of Red Media and StateCraft Inc as well as the co-author of the book “How to win elections in Africa”; are among other speakers at the Summit.

    Pastor Akinboboye added: “The RECALP Summit provides practical anecdotes for five very important aspects of human life namely: relationship, entrepreneurship, career, leadership, and politics. Our faculty has been carefully drawn from a select pool of distinguished and reputable individuals who actually walk their talk.

    Pastor Segun Odewunmi, the chairman of RECALP and pastor in charge of Restoration worship center also disclosed that “The Summit has so far enjoyed a relatively wide coverage with a total cumulative attendance of circa 2,000 and a growing online audience from all over the world.

    “Our young leaders – both as part of the live audience as well as those that would be joining the summit from across the world via different online streaming platforms are therefore assured of value for their time.

    “This is because our faculty this year are true success stories from the lens of the youth. We have a harmonious blend of time-tested practical wisdom in relationship and entrepreneurship on the one hand, and the youthful success story in career and leadership on the other.”

    Meanwhile, the Conveners said that attendance at the five-hour summit is free and interested youths can register online at http://www.recalp.org/

  • Leadership, bravery  and  security

    According to reports,  Nigeria’s  former  Head of State and  Military  ruler retired  General  Olusegun  Obasanjo, in Awka in the South Eastern part of Nigeria called on the Igbos  to vote  out incumbent President Muhammadu  Buhari in the 2019  elections if they  are to stop  the ethnic  cleansing and domination of the Fulani  they are experiencing under the present political dispensation in  Nigeria. That  was a bold  call and a challenge to  the Buhari Administration by a former Nigerian leader who obtained the surrender of the Igbos as the nation of Biafra at  the end of the Nigerian  civil  war. This then  is no cavalier talk  or  cheap   bravado.  It  is a challenge that cannot  be ignored as the 2019  elections approach.

    Similarly , the head of the Christian  Association of Nigeria  Rev  Olasupo  Ayokunle   called  on Nigerian Christians to protest by carrying placards    next    Sunday  at Church  services  nation wide over the killing of Nigerians by herdsmen culminating in the killing  of two  Catholic  priests in the   nation,  again by  murderous  herdsmen.  These  two  Nigerian issues  and the planned  meeting of the leaders of a divided nation, Korea, divided  by war  since the end of the Korean war  in 1953  engage  our attention  today. The  comparison  with  Korea  is at once instructive,  relevant  but  also  saddening.  This  is because  the  near   impossible  –   the prospect  of peace and unity    of the two  Koreas –  is happening  in the Korean  Peninsula ,  after the  very     recent  beatings  of drums of  nuclear  war  between  the US President Donald  Trumpand the North  Korean   leader  Kim  Jung  Un. This    was  something unthinkable  a few months  ago.  Just  as Nigeria  seemed  always      capable  of   easily  maintaining  her  peace  and unity  a few  months ago,  until the emergence  of the Fulani  herdsmen.  Who,  from all indications   now appear  to  be sacred cows  that  our security apparatus cannot  contain or  subdue , even  as they slaughter citizens  of our Middle Belt  with brutal  arrogance and barbarity cumulating  in the Obasanjo  political nuclear  missile  lunched  from the heart of the Biafran  rebellion that  he ended  on the battle field  in the 70s.   Really   Nigeria  is indeed in the grip of an avoidable  political    and security   crisis well  beyond  the elections of 2019. That  is a major  part of our discussion  today.

    Let us go back  to the Obasanjo salvo  urging the Igbos  to  reject Buhari in 2019  elections. He  really  did not mince words  and he did  not speak  from both sides  of his mouth as in the past.  He shot straight like the veteran general that he is and like the Palm Wine Drinkers Club of the Great  Ife  would say –  he  has spoken and he  has spoken  well.  That really means the government should  be bothered  and come  to  grips with the matter of the  Fulani  herdsmen  or be prepared  to be voted out not only by the Igbos  but  the rest of Nigeria in 2019. Already  the signs  of resentment   are brewing fast as the NASS from the senate floor has asked the President to address  a joint NASS session on security. Obasanjo  spoke the minds of Nigerians both leaders and followers   alike when he said ‘ Every Nigerian leader is  very much embarrassed   with  the state of the nation where  people are  attacked,  killed, raped and made refugees  in their  homes.  He  then  concluded bravely that the objective of his’ CNM  was  mostly on how  to sack   Buhari  from Aso  Rock in 2019  and ensure    that a visionary  government  is elected. Definitely  the ball  is in the court  of the present occupants of Aso  Rock  to nip  in the bud  this menace of rampaging  Fulani  herdsmen in order  to scale the  elections of 2019  or  they    should  be   prepared  to vacate the place for a new government  as advocated   so  loudly    and boldly  by   retired   General  Olusegun   Obasanjo.

    Similarly  the call by CAN president Rev Olasupo  Ayokunle   to Christians to hold peaceful protests in their churches on Sunday April 29    to ask  the Federal  Government  to stop  the killings  of innocent citizens  and  protect  all  Nigerians as  categorically stated in our constitution  is timeous    and bold. The  CAN  leader also asked   Christians to  write protests  like’ Enough  of  Bloodshed in  Nigeria ,’ ‘Enough  of  unlawful killings  in the country ‘. That  to me is   frank    and relevant leadership  for  Christians  in  Nigeria. Especially  in the South or even  Lagos where  at  the height of the Boko  Haram bloodletting and burning of  churches  and mosques  in  the  North  East,   the  Church  leadership cautioned on giving audience  to  fleeing bishops  from  the North asking for help   from  southern  churches   so  as  not to cause panic  in peaceful  and lucrative  Lagos  parishes  and dioceses,   with their grim  stories  of killings and persecution   in the  north. Now,  like Shakespeare  said in Merchant of Venice ,  this   CAN  leader  is like ‘ a Daniel  come to judgement ‘  for  Nigerian  Christians. He  has not  made  a call  to arms or  asked  Nigerian  Christians to Praise the Lord  and  pass  the ammunition as in the olden days  when the church  was the state  but  he has already shown  the way  to show the authorities  that Nigerian  Christians are peaceful  demonstrators  but certainly not  sheep  for slaughter hence forth. That again  is bold  leadership  in the direction of national  peace , stability    and  security  which   seem  to be fleeing our shores  rapidly   on this herdsmen crisis.

    Let  me now  show  why  we should be envying the North    and  South  Koreans  who  are now dreaming what we are afraid of losing in the last  few  weeks. Unbelievably  the controversial US President Donald Trump  set  the ball  rolling with his strong arm  tactics  on N Korean leader Kim  Jung Un  to denuclearize. They both called  each other moron and mad  then.

    • Continued online www.staging.thenationonlineng.net
  • Aim for leadership, youths told

    Aim for leadership, youths told

    NO  fewer than 127 youths across nine West African countries who are participating in the ongoing Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)-enhanced leadership skills training  and African youths have been challenged to be future change agents.

    Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Director Prof Philip Simpson told the participants to  direct their youthful energy and abilities towards a promising future of the continent.

    Simpson spoke during the opening ceremony of the fourth Nigerian cohort of the YALI programme facilitated by the YALI Regional Leadership Centre (RLC), Ghana in partnership with the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) in Topo, Badagry, Lagos.

    Simpson said: “I wish to remind you that as young persons, you must draw upon your energy, drive and enthusiasm in a positive way. The evidence of your youthfulness is in your vitality and labour.

    “You must remember that you  are born Africans. You will remain Africans, you must  not give up on Africa and you must raise the African cause.”

    YALI is an intervention programme by the United States government aimed at investing in the next generation of African leaders. YALI, through its Regional Leadership Centres across Africa – Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa, convenes Africans between 18 and 35 for an experiential learning across three specialisation tracks – business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership and public management.

    Director YALI Regional Leadership Centre (RLC), Dr. Shola Safo-Duodu, described YALI selection as ‘rigorous’, enjoining those who qualified to count themselves lucky and utilise the life-transforming opportunity to acquire the right skill set for self-development in order to improve the conditions of their respective communities, countries and the continent in general.

    She said 5000 entries were received  to attend the event. Of the figure, 2,140 applicants scaled through to the online interview, while only 150 passed the final stage.

    “The YALI module has been amended with respect to the way we deliver training. In the past, after the interview, we used to bring participants here for a five-week period. Now, there is an online component we have developed; so the selected participants have undertaken two weeks online work already.

    “We put 150 people on the online programme and only 127 were the ones who completed within the deadline. So, within the two weeks, they covered leadership, ethics and accountability, and contemporary issues affecting Africa. They did these things through video presentations, power point presentations online and a dicussion forum online.”

    Shola-Daodu added that the first three days of arrival would be spent recaping all the things that they had learnt online.

    Participants, according to her, would spend 10 days in their preselected specialisation trajectory, while the last week would feature a simulation where real life case studies will be designed and presentations made accordingly.

    Shola continued: “After they are finished here, we will pair them  with a mentor who will work with them for a while. And for those who are young enough and without work experience, we will give them internship opportunities; those who are working or do not need internship would undertake a community service project and then they write a report before we consider them as graduates.”

    Director of Studies and Head of Department of Management Consultancy Services of ASCON Dr. John Ayuba, spoke of the college expectations.

    “ASCON expects the participants to behave ethically and honourably.  We also expect that they would participate fully on the programme. So, it is not just about you coming and we can’t find you in the class or absconding from group exercises. We expect everybody to participate actively and be punctual to class so that training can take place the way we have scheduled them,” he said.

     

  • Clerics laud leadership for unifying CAC

    Clerics laud leadership for unifying CAC

    Clerics and members of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) have lauded the leadership of the church for resolving the age-long crisis that rocked it and unifying the fold.

    The worshippers thanked the CAC President Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun; General Superintendent, Pastor Sam Oladele; General Evangelist, Prophet Hezekiah Oladeji and General Secretary, Pastor E. E. Mapur, for midwifing the unification of the church after the protracted crisis.

    The church members spoke at a five-day CAC All Nations Holy Pilgrimage, with the theme: God of Our Fathers, at Odo Owa in Kwara State.

    The church frowned at the spate of kidnappings and bloodlettings across the country.

    In his sermon, Prophet Hezekiah sought prayers of the righteous against the new spate of bloodlettings in the country.

    The cleric said the Woman Like Deborah programme of the church at Oke Erio, which started yesterday, would be another opportunity for female Christians to pray for peace and development of the country.

     

  • Leadership and need for new movement

    Nigeria is an incredibly blessed nation by all metrics: natural resources, capital resources, human resources and an amiable climate with very few natural disasters.

    In 1960 when Nigeria gained independence, countries like Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea were at par with it in terms of development and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today, these countries have left us in the ‘under-developed nations’ category. They have built successful nations of producers while we have built a corrupt nation of consumers.

    Nigeria’s kleptomaniacs have done everything in their powers to perpetuate themselves. It would have been one thing if they actually cared about the people who have trusted them with power, but overwhelmingly, most of Nigerian leaders are selfish in their actions, incompetent in their decision-making and execution, tribal in their affiliations and most regrettably lack the integrity needed to tackle corruption.

    The nation with the richest black man and black woman is also one of the worst countries to be born into. Your green passport does not open any doors for you internationally. Your childhood is mired in the struggle to survive past age five.   You get to the university and you don’t know for certain the year you will graduate – thanks to strike after strike.  So, you graduate with a 2.1 or better as you are admonished to. But now, you are being told you need job experience to get your first job. Or because you refused to bribe someone or sleep with the boss, you don’t get the job. Or you don’t know the right people; your application doesn’t get reviewed. You end up searching for a good job for 2–3years after graduation, making do with underemployment in the meantime.

    Unfortunately, in Nigeria’s politics, my generation is learning all the wrong things from the current set of leaders. Well-intentioned neophytes get into politics in order to give Nigeria a better calibre of leader but then the system invariably corrupts them as well. There is the need for revolution, that being said; the revolution cannot come entirely from within. But there is still hope.

    In 2015 we had a movement. We wrestled power from the incumbent president. We the people spoke. The youth, my generation, spearheaded this change on social media and on the grassroots level. Personally, I was proud to vote for Muhammadu Buhari in 2011 and campaigned passionately for him in 2015. We convinced our reluctant parents and friends to give General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) a chance. We knew we were tired of the grand scale of corruption and blatant ineptitude of the Jonathan administration. We wanted a leader who had the will to win the fight against Boko Haram. We wanted a president with the spine to rein in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where $20bn was alleged to have been stolen. We were ecstatic on May 29, 2015, not only did we now have a new party in the presidency, this same party also controlled the parliament (or at least, so we thought).

    The first sign of danger was the coup in National Assembly when Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as Senate President and Speaker respectively to the chagrin of the party leaders.

    The fight against corruption has been fraught with many unforced errors. From the seeming impasse between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss, Ibrahim Magu and the Senate.

    We saw that for the most part, everything changed but things have remained the same. What we could have had in a friendlier parliament and a president with the integrity/fortitude to fight corruption would have been a special tribunal to repatriate stolen money and expedite the trials of the accused. That is what we needed and still need very badly.

    So, after being spared by God and having his health restored, it is clear that President Buhari is intent on running again in 2019. Why else would you announce a long list of political appointments 14 months from the elections? The President should know that, Nigerians are heartbroken. It takes more than just a reputation of not being corrupt to fix Nigeria. It takes discipline, courage, fortitude and most of all integrity .When we have an able leader, who surrounds himself with upright men and women who are just as principled, then we may have the opportunity to win this war on corruption.

    We may end up in the same situation we were in 2015; picking the lesser of two evils. That brings us to the Waziri Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. But why is it that in a country of almost 200 million individuals with no shortage of trailblazers, high achievers and technocrats with intimidating CVs, two septuagenarians are the only realistic choices we find ourselves with? That is indeed the crux of the matter and the need for a new type of movement.

    The youths offer fresh hope and we must reach them. We must make sure that they are not mere spectators in this decision-making process. Their leaders need to be the best of them and not the most corrupt or the grimiest politician among them. We as a society must make it easy for them to participate and discourage the systemic disenfranchisement that we have become so used to.

    We need to liberalize the way people get their voter cards (PVC). It must be as easy as being able to buy a recharge card. We must also make sure the voting booths are as accessible as possible, in every neighbourhood. We need to also allow people to move freely on the election day, especially if the voting booths are not widely dispersed as they should be.

    Getting the youth involved will reinvigorate our democracy, keep our ideas fresh, diversify the playing field and allow modern approaches to ancient problems. The youth can also be a great source of campaign finance, we saw how Bernie Sanders crowd-sourced hundreds of millions of dollars in the 2016 US presidential elections. Certainly, we have the technology to enable this in Nigeria.

    What do you propose we do now?

    You have to be more demanding of your candidates and of your political parties. I also want Nigerians to support movements/groups like Enough is Enough, BudgIT Nigeria, OpenNASS, Not too young to run, tracka.ng, follow the money etc. These are groups that are keeping an eye on the government and pushing for accountability and transparency. What we need very badly is a movement to ensure that everyone who can vote gets a PVC. I believe that is the only way to change the system, when we have PVCs and are ready to vote, that is when the politicians will take us seriously.

    I know the above suggestions will help increase the chance of such candidate emerging, if not for 2019, then definitely for 2023!

     

    • Dr Jimoh, a medical practitioner writes in from United States of America.
  • Right leadership will entrench democracy in Africa, says Buhari

    Right leadership will entrench democracy in Africa, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Accra, Ghana, said with right leadership and implementation of public policies, Africa’s drive to eradicate poverty and entrench democracy is on course.

    In his speech at Ghana’s 61stIndependence anniversary  in Accra, President Buhari noted that Nigeria and Ghana were benefitting immensely from leaders committed to improving their economies and tackling corruption.

    President Buhari, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, praised President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana on his achievements in his first year in office, lauding his committed fight against corruption and the passing of the Special Prosecutors Bill into law.

    He pledged Nigeria’s support to Ghana in the fight against corruption, noting that the menace had badly affected both societies.

    ‘‘From Nigeria, I have watched closely your achievements, ranging from your ingenious approach to creating jobs for the teeming youths through various initiatives, including the repositioning of agriculture for modern farming, ‘Farming for Jobs and Food’, Senior High School (SHS) free education, One-District-One-Factory, and One-Village-One-Dam as well as the improvement being recorded in the Republic’s macroeconomic indicators.

    ‘‘All these efforts, I am aware, have made Ghana to become a good destination for foreign direct investment, just like Nigeria. Accept my congratulations!

    ‘‘I congratulate both the government and the Parliament for the quick passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act and its signing into law.

    ‘‘Your Excellency can be assured that you have a good partner in me as I look forward to any form of collaboration between Nigeria and Ghana in tackling the menace of endemic corruption.

    ‘‘Given all these public policies, it becomes reassuring that with the right leadership, Africa’s drive to eradicate poverty and to entrench democracy is on course,’’ he said.

    President Buhari, who was the special guest of honour at the ceremony, recounted the historic and cultural ties between Nigeria and Ghana, urging citizens of both countries to uphold the fraternal relations.

    ‘‘It is, therefore, my strong desire that we owe it as a duty to ensure that our good peoples continue to live in each other’s countries unhindered.

    ‘‘Our newly rejuvenated Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation has already provided us with good platform in resolving any differences while focusing on our main developmental objectives,’’ the President said.

    Commenting on peace and security in West Africa, the President praised Akufo-Addo’s contribution to ensuring peace in neighbouring Togo.

    ‘‘Permit me to put on record, Ghana’s untiring efforts in brokering peace in Togo, by bringing all the warring parties to the negotiation table.  I am appealing to the opposing parties in Togo to please come together and resolve their differences so that Togo will move forward.

    ‘‘In the same vein, I wish Nigeria and Ghana to continue to provide the impetus in realising the objectives and ideals of the founding fathers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to ensure security, peace and development of our region,’’ he said.

  • Smile gets Telecoms Leadership Award

    Smile gets Telecoms Leadership Award

    A Pioneer and leading 4G LTE telecoms service provider in West Africa, Smile Nigeria has won the Telecom Leadership Excellence Prize.

    The award was given to the firm by The African Institute for Innovation Leadership in Ikeja, Lagos.

    According to the organisers, the award was given in recognition of Smile’s excellence in Leadership Innovation and Customer Satisfaction. On hand to receive the award on behalf of the Managing Director, was Head, Brands and Communications, Smile Nigeria, Lotanna Anajemba. He assured that the company will remain steadfast to the noble ideals that have informed its unending quest for excellence. He said the award would help in energising the company to continue to deliver the best services and products, promising that the firm will not relent in its quest to offer consistent service delivery, super fast and reliable broadband internet services to Nigerians.

    Reaffirming the firm’s commitment to speed, quality and reliable 4G LTE mobile broadband services, Smile Communications recently secured additional capacity on IRU basis with one of the leading telcos in the country to improve its service quality and customer experience across Smile coverage areas.

    The company received commendation for keeping to its promise and sustenance of high-speed 4G LTE broadband internet and clear voice services, which it provides consumers in major cities across the country. The organisers also noted Smile’s contribution to the development of Nigeria and indeed Africa’s economy by providing a platform that enables its citizens achieve more both in their personal and business lives.

    Anajemba dedicated the award to Smile’s customers, trade partners and workers.

    The company has won the ‘Best Premium Quality Super Fast 4GLTE Mobile Broadband Service Provider of The Year 2016’, ‘The Most Innovative Broadband Service Provider of the Year’ at the 2016 Titans of Tech Awards, ICT Investment Award and Leadership Newspaper ICT/Telecoms Company of the year 2016, among others.

  • Dapchi as failure of leadership

    Dapchi as failure of leadership

    Governments exist primarily for the protection of lives and properties of the governed. Sadly in spite of President Buhari’s giant strides in his crusade against corruption, revamping of the economy and ending the nation’s drift after 16 years of impunity, the February 19 carting away of 110 students of Government Girls’ Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, in 11 trucks by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in military fatigues, was but a confirmation that all that has been going on  either in Abuja or Damaturu, Yobe State, were nothing but motion without movement with little or no governance

    The president decision to beg the traumatised parents of the abducted girls was at least an admission that the buck stops at his table. However, his description of Dapchi as tragedy  while the April 14, 2014 abduction of 214 Chibok schoolgirls which formed part of the President 2015 campaign promises was yet to be resolved and on the heels of  an ongoing mindless killing  and sacking of communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen across the country, as ‘a national disaster’ was an understatement. It was a national embarrassment, or as Isha Sesay of CNN puts it – “a national disgrace”.

    Both President Buhari and Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State should be held responsible for the Dapchi tragedy. It was all about failure of leadership. This often finds expression in absence of governance. By governing with a mind-set of an emir while delegating governance to his unelected aides that from their actions and pronouncements, are widely believed to harbour anti-Nigeria agenda, the president has betrayed the nation. Yobe’s Gaidam, like his predecessors in office was also until recently opposed to state and community policing. This reactionary mind-set cannot be said to be borne out of a desire to safeguard the interest of the governed in Yobe State.

    A people that fail to learn from history, as the Chinese say, will be punished by history. Apparently not much lesson has been learnt from the failure of ex-President Jonathan by the Buhari administration if anything, criticism of his handling of the Chibok tragedy as it has now turned out, was an excuse for in-effective governance. It has now taken a government that blamed its failure to rescue all the Chibok girls on Jonathan’s foot-dragging within the first 24 hours of the Chibok tragedy, several days before “urging Nigerians, including the rural dwellers who might have information that could lead to the location of the girls, to bring such information to the attention of the military authorities?” But Nigerians would want to know the measures put in place by the minister of internal affairs and his counterpart, in defence to protect the girls’ school – a soft target for Boko Haram insurgents in the north? What happened to the DSS officials whose duties were to carry out covert activities for other security arms? Where were the police and military joint checkpoints when 11 trucks laden with priceless Dapchi girls sped through our ‘borderless’ borders to Niger far away from Nigerian territory we were told was secured a long time ago?

    The military has also denied Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s allegation that “prior to the attack, the army units stationed in Dapchi and Bayamari towns were removed”. But I think the military owes their commander-in-chief and by extension Nigerians, an explanation on why a military formation located only 30 kilometres from the scene of the tragedy needed the president’s directive several days later before sending “more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, in the hope that all the missing girls will be found?”

    If indeed there was anyone in charge before the tragedy, why did we need to resort to our usual ‘fire-brigade’ approach by declaring after the tragedy that “henceforth, the police and the Civil Defence Corps will ensure that their presence is strong in every school to serve as a deterrent to the insurgents?”

    Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser (NSA) who announced deployment of 100 jet fighters to search for the missing girls eight days after the tragedy and  constituted a committee with  membership from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Police, Department of State Services (DSS); Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) “to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction”, should have done that two years back to forestall the Dapchi tragedy.  Monguno who lives in an analogue age has no business in modern government. And indeed if there is any form of governance going on in Abuja, he and others that have failed the nation ought to have by now tendered their letters of resignation if the president will not fire them.

    Similarly, the protection of lives and properties of the governed in spite of the constraints of our imperfect constitution is the core responsibility of elected governors. Unfortunately, with the exception of Lagos and a handful of others, many other state governors behave like parasites collecting huge allocations in addition to security votes from Abuja and turn around to blame the centre for their security challenges. That Governor Ibrahim Gaidam and his entourage were stoned by traumatised parents of the abducted girls was not just a vote of no confidence in his government, but sufficient proof that the governed also know their real enemies.

    It is on record that since the death of Ahmadu Bello, the revered northern premier in 1966, nearly all northern governors have continued to oppose community and state policing. Many observers believe the only plausible explanation for this reactionary mind-set in an age when community policing has been adjudged as ideal for fighting municipal crimes and securing communities, is probably the desire of northern minority rulers to guarantee easy passage for their fellow Fulani cattle-grazing compatriots who live across Nigeria’s borders and who often become important variable during census, election and religious crisis that define Nigerian politics.

    They have cited the recent subtle support by some prominent northern emirs for herdsmen’s resistance to anti-grazing laws promulgated by some states. There was also the recent threat by the leadership of Miyetti Allah to invite Fulani herdsmen across West Africa to wage war on Nigeria if their demand for open grazing was not met. They have equally cited the case of an influential emir from the northeast who during the 2014 Confab told his colleagues during the debate on the national question that unlike them, he had an option of crossing over to join his fellow Fulani in northern Cameroon if Nigeria descended into chaos.

    Many informed Nigerians believe Dapchi tragedy could have been avoided if there had been community and state policing. It is not likely indigenes, unlike the military and the Nigeria police who are today trading blames after a monumental tragedy, would stand by and allow their daughters to be shipped away in 11 trucks by those who exhibit instincts worse than those of animals.

    Now the chicken has come home to roost. The nation is haunted by perfidy of those who allowed our nation to be infiltrated by jihadist in the guise of Fulani herdsmen. And more tragically, four weeks after an agreement between the Presidency, governors and lawmakers that state policing is the only answer to effective governance, beyond a consensus celebrated on pages of newspapers with howling headlines, there is no evidence any bill has been initiated.